Wastewater lift stations, which lift wastewater from one elevation to a higher elevation to facilitate moving downstream by gravity, are generally known.
In a typical lift station assembly, an in-ground well receives wastewater, such as sewage, through an inlet in a side wall of the well. The wastewater accumulates within the well until it reaches a predetermined level, at which point a submersible pump or other wastewater moving device in the well is automatically triggered to begin evacuating wastewater through an outlet in the side wall located at an elevation above the inlet.
The pump continues operating until the level of accumulated wastewater in the well decreases to a second predetermined level. The elevation of the outlet may be sufficient to allow the evacuated wastewater to flow by gravity, e.g., via a sewer main to a municipal wastewater treatment plant.
Conventionally, most wastewater lift stations have been custom designed and engineered for a particular facility, with the lift station requiring extensive fitting, fabrication and assembly on site. Custom designs and any extended on-site activity require additional time and personnel with substantial experience and/or special certifications, both of which increase costs.
Conventional lift stations not designed according to a modular approach frequently include components, whether specially fabricated or off-the-shelf products from suppliers, that have not been used or used together in a lift station. Attempts to assemble these components on-site often reveal incompatibility and performance problems. Even a minor on-site problem can cause unpredictable and costly delays. Incompatibility problems that are not discovered initially require expensive service visits and may result in costly system failures.
A modular, integrated wastewater lift station has components which are pre-configured to reduce on-site installation time and to avoid potential component incompatibility problems. Certain components are available in a selected, but finite range of sizes to suit a great majority of different applications that may be commonly encountered.
The well is constructed from pre-formed well sections, and includes a bottom well section, one or more intermediate well sections, and a top well section. The depth of the well can be set as desired by selecting an appropriate number of intermediate well sections, which are positioned on top of each other and on top of the bottom well section that has been placed at an appropriate elevation (e.g., at the bottom of an excavated hole). The top well section is mated with the top of the uppermost intermediate well section and covers the well.
The well sections are pre-fabricated at the factory to include some components and have features for receiving other components. Some of these features may, e.g., help to avoid the need to align and drill holes on-site to attach components.
Installation is simplified, as little on-site fabrication or changes to the basic design of the lift station is required. Installation can be completed more quickly and with more assurance, since there is less chance of encountering a problem or failing to fully configure any of the components.